As Sweet as a Whisper on the Lips of Pain
by The Dead Masquerade
Summary: Two tortured souls find a much needed solace in each other but as fate would have it, their first meeting will not be their last. Two-Shot!


She just needed to get away, needed to be on her own. She had no idea how long she could put up the happy front for her friends and act like she was perfectly okay. Just one night out and alone was all she needed then she could go back to being all smiles.

She wasn't going to frown and bear her worries on her friends after all the trouble that was put into bringing her back to life, not to mention the idea of becoming the anchor was hers in the first place. She didn't want to seem ungrateful for all the work that was put into bringing her back from the dead; all she needed was some time on her own with no facades and fronts.

That's why the near-empty rundown bar about an hour away from the campus with no chance of seeing any familiar faces was perfect for her. Another perk, the older man tending to the bar couldn't give two shits how old she was and handed her a drink without any hassle.

Bonnie had left her phone back in the dorm room. She didn't know if that was smart or not, but she really didn't much feel like being disturbed so it seemed like a good idea. She had left a note on her pillow for her two friends when they would return from their collage party telling them not to worry and that she'd be back later, just needed a bit of time to clear her head.

Given what she had just gone through, coming back from the dead and all, they understood the need to be alone. Jeremy understood the most, having gone through it himself. Bonnie was grateful for him and his determination to help her adjust to being in the world of the living again.

They had tried to go back to how they were once Bonnie had come back, but with everything they had gone through it seemed too much to be together, they settled for remaining friends but they would always be close and have a bond.

He was there for her no matter what.

A bit of time had passed and she was on her second drink when she sensed someone take a seat on the stool next to hers. She felt annoyance bubble up that out of a bar that was pretty much empty, someone had to take the seat next to her however she paid them no mind and kept her attention on her drink.

"This does not look like your scene," the person next to her spoke. Bonnie couldn't help but first notice his accent, something between maybe Italian and British but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, whatever it was, however, it was drool worthy.

She looked up at him; the accent definitely matched the face. He was absolutely gorgeous with deep brown eyes and dark hair. He wore somewhere between a smirk and a smile on his lips but it was the look in his eyes that gave him away, that predatory gaze. It was a look she'd seen many times in their eyes of others, even her best friends at times.

He was a vampire.

She didn't answer him. Having her best friends and the Salvatore's being vampires were one thing, she had gotten used to them but unknown vampires were still on Bonnie's shit list.

"What are you drinking, sweetheart?" he asked as he watched her drink the last of her rum and coke, a taste she acquired from her Grams whenever the older woman was drunk enough to let Bonnie have some.

Bonnie sighed and placed her empty glass on the bar a little too heavily. She turned to face him and gave him a blank look. "Look, no offence but I don't associate with vampires." He didn't need to know that she already had more vampires in her life than she could handle on most days.

He smiled at her, obviously taking no offence, if anything he seemed to find it amusing.

"Well, that removes the awkward chit-chat. Now you know what I am so what are you?" he questioned her.

"Who says I'm anything?"

"Ordinary humans don't get close to vampires enough to pick them out from a crowd unless they're a plaything, or experimenting on them," Bonnie noticed a dark flash in his eyes as mentioned experimenting but she ignored it. "So that leaves only a small handful of other options."

He turned on the stool, his side to the bar so he was fully facing her. For some reason she found herself matching him. He observed her, she could feel his eyes roaming all over her and she couldn't help but feel a slight flush at the way he gazed over her intensely.

He snapped his fingers and leant his elbow on the bar. "You're a witch."

"And what makes you say that?" she crossed her legs and stared at him.

"For starters," he began, "your blatant dislike for vampires. Now that could have led to you being a werewolf but you don't have that primal, animalistic look in your eye so you definitely are not a wolf. Secondly, you have an air of arrogance about you but that only appeared when you realised what I was. A common witch trait." he smirked at her and she couldn't help but smile back. "Thirdly, while you may currently look broken and defeated, I still see the fight in your eyes and I've yet to meet a witch who is willing to just give up."

She gave a startled jump when she suddenly felt his warm hand enclose over hers and instead of getting the cold feeling course through her like it had so many times before when she touches a vampire for the first time, she felt nothing, just the warmness of his hand and the smile that she had been wearing began to fade.

"Thought I'd get that intimal touch over with now that we've been more acquainted," he said and gently squeezed her hand.

"Well, you're wrong," she told him and moved her away from their hands to back to his face. "I'm not a witch," she said. "At least, not anymore."

He cocked his head to the side. "Not anymore?"

"It's a long story," she dismissed and removed her hand from under his and placing it on the bar. She was about ready to leave now.

"I enjoy long stories," he said truthfully. "Helped to pass the time."

Bonnie looked at him, a slight frown on her lips. She knew something had happened to him. Talking about humans experimenting on vampires didn't seem to be the usual answer for most vampires and now long stories to pass the time?

"I take it you don't exactly have a happy story, do you?" she responded to him softly.

"Do most vampires, though?" he answered with a question.

"Do you?" she tried again but was given a shrug.

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," he offered.

Bonnie shook her head at him and looked down at her empty glass still sitting on the bar. "My story is very long and not very interesting."

He gave her another shrug. "Why does it have to be interesting? I'm not asking you to entertain me, sweetheart." He then waved down the bar tender and ordered another drink for herself and one of his own, once the drinks were placed in front of them he urged her to start talking.

Bonnie sighed –knowing he was determined to hear her story- and took a sip of her drink. "Well, I guess a good place to start is to tell you that I'm technically dead," she said and looked to him for a reaction which was a look a surprised followed by one of confusion. "I am or was a ghost, still not exactly certain, it's all so confusing at times." she didn't really feel right revealing that she was the Anchor to the Other Side to a complete stranger and then she would have to get into the whole Silas and Qetsiyah story and Bonnie just wasn't in the mood to go through all that again. "Anyway, I had been dead for about three or so months before my friends found a witch that was able to make me permanently corporeal."

Also revealing her ancestry to a vampire didn't seem like the best idea.

"It took your friends three months to find a witch?" he questioned with an arch brow. "They aren't that hard to come by."

"They are when you're not looking for them. They didn't know I was dead until about a week before I came back."

"How could they not know you were dead? Surely one would notice their friend mysteriously disappearing."

"I didn't want them to know," she shrugged. "One of my friends is a median, he can talk to ghosts so I still had contact with him which made it difficult to accept my death but I guess in the end that was a good thing since here I am."

"Why would you not want your friends to know you were dead? Don't you think they deserved to mourn your death and for you to be mourned?"

Bonnie breathed in deeply before she answered. "For the first time in a long while, my friends were happy and I didn't want to ruin that for them with another loss. We have all already lost so much," she defended her decisions. "I just wanted them to go off to college and be happy. And they did mourn me eventually."

"How did you die? If you don't mind me asking."

"The friend I mentioned, the median?" he nodded. "Well, he was dead and I used three different kinds of magic to bring him back to life and that was too much for my body to handle. So…I died."

"So he was dead…then you brought him back and then you died but here you are," he gave her a strange look before he let out a chuckle. "That's weird, sweetheart, even for me."

"It was stupid to use all that magic and not expect any consequences but I can't say I regret bringing him back."

"He would have to be more than a friend for you to risk so much to bring him back from the dead," he replied and Bonnie bit the inside of her cheek.

"There were a few reasons I brought him back, the number one reason being for my best friend. He's her brother and was her last family member. Losing him made her lose herself but we used to be together about a year ago and I still love him just not in the same way, I guess," she explained and looked down at the bar. Seeing her best friend smile at having Jeremy back made it all worth it.

"Speaking of magic, it's my understanding that witches retain their magic even on the Other Side."

"They do but I had gotten caught up in some pretty dark magic before I died and then there is the whole thing about not being a witch and immortal at the same time."

Bonnie had been told numerous times by Shane that Expression wasn't dark magic, but it made her feel dark at times. It was one thing she should never have messed in and her Grams made sure she knew that between hugging her repeatedly and ripping her a new one.

"You mentioned three types of magic, why would you dabble in so many?"

"Oh no, that's another story for another time," she stopped him. She was so not getting into all that tonight. Her escape this evening was not supposed to be about taking trips down memory lane with a complete stranger, even if he was gorgeous and had a voice she could sit and listen to all night.

He gave her a little half smile. "Fair enough."

"But each one ended pretty badly," she added and took another sip of her drink.

"And you kept dabbling?"

Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "If it weren't for the situation, I would have taken a break from magic. But with what was going on, taking a break would have meant people I love getting hurt and that is where my issues with vampires starts, really. If it weren't for them coming to town, none of this probably would have happened and people I love would still be alive."

Her Grams' death was a little easier now, especially since she had to ability to see her on the Other Side but the death of her father was harder to bear. What had happened the night Silas slit her father's throat had been a scene that was never far from Bonnie's mind, her father falling to the floor and her own screams echoing in her ears. No one had moved - no one even knew what happened except for her and all she could do was watch, she couldn't do a damn thing to help him and he couldn't even see her face when she leant over him. She never even got to say goodbye.

"Your resentment of my kind is understandable, then," his voice broke her from her thoughts and back to reality.

Bonnie took another deep breath and a long drink before she turned her attention back to the vampire next to her who seemed to be watching her intently.

"So, that's my story," she finished and tried to force a smile. "What's yours?"

xxx

Enzo smiled at the young woman sitting across from him and reached his hand out once again to cover hers that rested atop of the bar. He found that he rather liked the feeling of her hand in his, and after years of unspeakable torture he had forgotten how nice a gentle touch could be.

"You are far too young to go through so much pain," he said to her with a quiet tone, his thumb tracing soft circles on her hand.

The tiniest of smiles graced her face and he watched her eyes flicker down to their hands. He had half expected her to pull away her hand again but she didn't.

"And that pain is never going to stop," she finally spoke and looked up to meet his gaze. "I've seen what my future looks like, and it's far from pleasant. It's a hell."

Enzo frowned. It was obvious that there was something more to her tale that she had left out and as much as he was curious to know what was so horrible in her life that would cause an eternity of never ending pain, the anguish in her eyes was enough for him to push his curiosity aside.

He knew she would talk when she was ready to deal with whatever needed to be dealt with, he spoke from experience after all. The first few years with the Augustine, he refused to say a word to anyone but after enough times someone rips you apart like a child would a butterfly, he found talking –not even about what was happening- would help. So he had made it a habit to keep talking…or maybe that was because he lost his mind a little bit…he wasn't quite sure at this point.

Enzo squeezed her hand before he laced his fingers with her own. He stood from the bar stool and gently pulled her up with him. "It's a lovely evening, let's not spend it inside a stuffy bar," he answered her questioning look and began to lead her towards the exit.

He could feel a slight resistance in her movements, understandably cautious to leave a bar with a vampire she didn't know. He turned and gave her a soothing smile.

"I promise that I have no intentions of hurting you," he said to her in a sincere tone. "It has been a long while since I have enjoyed someone's company as much as your own."

He could still sense that she was still not one hundred per cent convinced but she followed him out of the bar anyway.

Enzo breathed in the fresh night air, the gentle breeze dancing around them. It was a feeling he had taken for granted before being taking in by the Society and had to endure years of being locked up with little to no fresh air or trips outside.

"So are you going to tell me about yourself or are you going to keep me in suspense?" she questioned him with an amused tone as the two of them walked along the side walk towards the park at the end of the street.

His lips tugged upwards and he looked to her, he found that she wasn't much shorter than himself really. "I must warn you, sweetheart, my story is very unpleasant and very bloody."

He still didn't know her name, nor did she know his, but he liked it that way, finding solace in a stranger he found could be a beautiful thing.

"How bloody is very bloody?" she asked him slowly, almost wearily.

"Extremely," he answered her when they stepped onto the grass of the park. "And you needn't worry, I shan't be revealing any of my misdeeds, that blood is none of the innocent," he added and let go of her hand only to move his own to the small of her back. "It's my own."

She gave him a look that seemed to be a mix of concern and shock as he steered them towards one of the park benches scattered around the empty and wonderfully silent park.

"This goes back many years ago; I was a solider during the Second World War," he revealed. "I was stationed in Eastern Europe and when I left I was captured by a human society that performs experiments on vampires," he kept his gaze steady on her face, wanting to see her reactions to what he would tell her. "For too many years I endured horrific torture at the hands of humans who claimed it was for science."

Enzo wasn't going to give her the mental images of what he had suffered by giving her details, nor did he want to relive the torture by speaking of what he had gone through.

She wore a shocked look and this time, it was her hand covering his. "That's horrible."

They were sitting closer to each other than they were at the bar and with the cool air surrounding them; Enzo took comfort in the warmth that radiated from her body.

"It was," he replied and his free hand rose to push a bit of fallen hair away from her face, his fingertips grazing gently across the soft skin of her cheek before he dropped his hand. "But there was a time where it was less painful. Two times, actually," he continued. "A woman, she was a member of the society. She was kind and gentle and wasn't aware of everything that would happen, all she would do is check up on me and the other vampires but she was spend a little extra time talking to me each time she visited and at that time when I had no one, those little talks were everything."

"What happened to her?"

"She eventually discovered what they were doing to us and didn't have the heart to be a part of that. She left."

Enzo had always wondered what had become of Maggie, having been the only source of kindness and light in a place that could quite possibly rival Hell, she had never been far from his thoughts. He imagined that it couldn't be too difficult to find out what had happened to her.

"Ten years later another vampire was brought in, younger than myself and he was put in the cell next to mine. He and I had formed a friendship and had formed a plan for the both of us to escape. The society would feed us a bit of blood each day, enough to keep us well but not enough to keep our strength up, I gave my portions of blood to my friend to build his strength up and that happened for a year until the society would hold their annual gathering where we had planned to escape but it did not go to plan," he paused for a moment as he thought back to that day, the day he felt all hope he had leave him and never return. "My friend had managed to escape but a fire had been started. I was pleading with him to help me but he turned his back and walked away from me and the torture continued for another seventy years."

A silence fell over them when he stopped speaking; Enzo was trying to push the vivid memories from his mind while he was sure she was trying to process what he had just revealed to her.

Enzo was surprised when he felt her hand rest on his cheek, turning his head to face her. There was sadness on her face but there was no pity which he was grateful for. Pity was not what he was after.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," she said softly, her thumb brushing over his cheek bone. It was so nice and soothing he just wanted to close his eyes and lean into her gentle touch. "No one deserves that."

Enzo couldn't stop himself, he leaned into her touch and he turned his head slightly so he could press a light kiss to the inside of her wrist.

The little kiss had shocked her, he could tell. He could feel and hear her pulse began to race and he could also feel his own.

xxx

Bonnie had no idea what had come over her. When she leant in and pressed her lips to his, all she wanted to do was blame it on some spiritual possession but she knew it was all her own doing.

She could tell that her bold move had stunned the vampire but (and much to her relief) it hadn't taken long for him to respond enthusiastically to the kiss.

It was a gentle kiss, slow. They were taking their time, there was no rush. One of her hands still rest on the side of his face while the other went behind his head and entangled in his soft, dark hair. His hand had gone to the side of her neck and the other to her waist.

He made the first move to take their kiss to the next step by gliding his tongue across her lower lip.

Bonnie complied and parted her lips. She let out a quiet moan when their tongues met and began a languid dance that had Bonnie feeling light headed and had her stomach tightening.

All too soon she had to pull away to breathe in the sweet night air but thankfully he did not. His almost sinful lips began leaving a trail of kisses from the corner of her mouth, trailing across her jaw, taking a moment here and there to swipe his tongue across her skin or place a gentle nip that had her breath hitching. He kissed down the side of her neck, and he let out a groan that was music to her ears. She felt him mutter something against her neck and her fingers gripped his hair a little tighter when she felt his teeth scrap along her neck.

Bonnie used the grip she had on his hair to pull his lips back to hers. This kiss was more heated than the last one, faster but no less passion filled and enjoyable.

Bonnie's eyes snapped open when she heard someone clear their throat a few feet away from them. She immediately pulled away from him with a sheepish smile but it faded when she eyed the figure before her and the confused expression the vampire next to her gave her.

"Sorry to interrupt," they said with spite that Bonnie had learnt to not take seriously pretty quickly. They were pissed about being dead, it wasn't directed at her. "Are you who I'm supposed to…whatever?"

"Sweetheart?" the vampire's hand went to her cheek and turned her face towards him. He had no idea why she had pulled away or what had suddenly caught her attention. "Is everything all right?"

Bonnie nodded her head, but not sure who to. The ghost seemed to accept it as an answer though.

"So I just touch you?" she asked Bonnie who looked back to the man beside her, still confused, before nodding her head back to the ghost.

Bonnie could feel her heart begin to thump in her chest when the ghost took a step towards her, their hand stretched out. This had only happened five times before, not including Qetsiyah, and Bonnie never thought she'd get used to it. It would never be possible to get over such pain.

She closed her eyes and waited for the touch of a hand followed by the excruciating pain that wrecked through her entire body, like someone had thrust their hand into her chest and crushing her heart in their bare hands while someone else rearranged her insides. She was screaming, she had to be but all she could hear was a ringing in her ears.

The pain never lasted for more than a minute but it always felt like it was never ending to her.

When it passed and she came back down from the pain, she felt a pair of strong arms wrapped securely around her with a hand running soothingly through her short hair. She opened her eyes and all she saw was black, he had pulled her to his chest.

She pulled back from him and he slowly dropped his arms from around her. She couldn't even look him in the eye. She didn't know if she was embarrassed about how that must of looked to someone not knowing what was really going on or what but one thing was for certain and that was her night was now ruined.

"I'm so sorry about that," she apologised to him but still refused to look at him.

That changed when his fingers went under her chin to tilt her head up so she had to look at him. Whatever she was afraid to see in his eyes wasn't there. "No need to apologise."

"That must have looked incredibly strange," she tried to force a smile but she couldn't muster it so she dropped it completely and let out a heavy sigh. "What you just saw has partly to do with how I'm alive again," she told him.

xxx

"You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable with it," Enzo said to her.

He wanted nothing more than to know what had just taken place a few minutes ago and he knew that it had something to do with what she was leaving out earlier but he would not push her for an answer.

"Only one other person knows about it," she said. "It happened in front of him so I had no other choice but to tell him but he knew what I was already, just not what I have to go through being it."

She looked up at him with a pleading look. "I didn't tell you think because I can't have people knowing, it could be dangerous and not to just me."

Enzo took her hand once again. He had no desire to hurt this woman, none at all. There was something about her that he liked, that he found himself drawn to. Perhaps it was her gentleness and kindness and far different than anything he'd experienced in nearly seventy years.

xxx

She wanted to talk about it with someone other than Jeremy, someone other than a friend…she just didn't know if it was a good idea.

Bonnie had no idea if being the anchor would put her in danger or the Other Side. She knew she kept it grounded or whatever it was Qetsiyah said to her and if she were to die the Other Side would disappear, but as far as Bonnie was concerned, she was already dead. She couldn't die again.

"It's a long, long story," she warned him. "The beginning goes back nearly two thousand years."

She was almost relieved to hear him let out a chuckle. "Then just give me the basics, sweetheart. The bits that concern you, after all, that's all I'm interested in," he gave her a disarming and downright charming smile.

"So, I kind of mentioned the Other Side earlier…I think, anyway. What I said was true, I am technically still dead but how I'm able to be in this realm is because I took on the role of the Anchor," his expression told her that she needed to elaborate on that part.

Bonnie licked her lips and thought of a simple way to put her now confusing life. "Basically, the Anchor is exactly how it sounds. I anchor the Other Side to this world and for that to happen, I have a foot in both so I can communicate with the living and the dead which makes life very confusing for me."

Especially when you're standing in a crowd of people and start talking to someone who turns out to be a ghost. Sometimes Bonnie can tell them apart but there are times where she can't.

"At the time it sounded like the best and only option for me to come back. I had briefly met the previous Anchor and well…she was insane but she had also been entombed for two thousand years so automatically I thought that was the reason for her instability turns out it wasn't."

Well, it was probably a contributing factor but definitely not the main one.

He was listening intently to her and whenever she paused to either think about what she was going to say next or have to explain something more to him, he urged her to continue. He wasn't going to say anything until she had finished.

"It wasn't until the spell had been done and successful that the bitch told me the catch of being the Anchor," she was filled with anger at the thought of Qetsiyah. Bonnie refused to believe she is a descendant from that bitter bitch. "And that catch is that I will feel the death of every supernatural being in the world when they pass through me to get to the Other Side."

When Qetsiyah first revealed that neglected bit of information, Bonnie wondered how many supernatural beings a day would be dying around the world and much to Bonnie's surprised, there wasn't that many or maybe it's just been an easy first week.

"And that is what just happened here?" he finally spoke and Bonnie nodded her head. "And you go through that almost daily?"

She nodded her head again. "Like I said earlier, my pain is for eternity."

xxx

Enzo was at a loss for words and he wasn't too sure why so he did the only thing he could think of. He pulled her into his lap so that she was straddling him and pressed his lips to hers.

It was nothing rough, nothing demanding, just slow and soft kisses. What they both needed. He had endured seventy years of torture and she will endure an eternity of it. They needed gentle.

When they parted he placed a kiss to her cheek and she rested her forehead against his, her hands gripping his shoulders for support.

"The pain will never hurt less, but you will learn to deal with it, to live with it," he whispered to her. "You cannot let this beat you, sweetheart. Don't let it change who you are."

Her eyes were closed and he took it as his cue to leave.

"Will I ever see you again?" she asked him in a quiet voice, he may not have heard had it not been for his enhanced hearing.

He wanted to say yes, wanted to say that he was going to look out for her but he couldn't do that. He would only just add to the pain and the darkness in her already dark life and she was too beautiful a person for him to destroy.

"Maybe one day,"' he pressed a final kiss to her sweet lips before he lifted her up off his lap and onto the seat next to him.

Enzo was out of sight by the time she opened her eyes but he wasn't gone. He had made sure she arrived back to her college campus alright (he was a little put off to discover she went to Whittmore but he won't hold that against her) before he made his way to the little town of Mystic Falls to visit his old friend.

Damon left him to rot in the cell while he turned his back. He would bring havoc down on his friend, destroy him if he had to and he would enjoy every minute of it and that is precisely why he will never let himself see that sweet girl again.

**xxx**

**And they will meet again because this has two parts (a two-shotter?)! **

**I hope you enjoyed this and keep a look out for part 2 which will not be too long because I have little to no internet and nothing to do but write and make fanvids for the next few days and Bonenzo has been killing me.**

**People who follow me on tumblr, I promised smut, didn't I? I will deliver, it just didn't seem right in this chapter so that's why I decided to add another (can you see Bonnie doing the nasty in a park with a hot ass vampire? I can…but since I was trying to keep this canon and all).**

**I don't know if I got Enzo's past right, if the episodes don't got Bonnie I don't watch and since 3 out of 4 Enzo episodes have been Bonnie-less thank god for TVD WIKI!**

**Other updates are coming, eventually, somewhere…it'll happen. Things in my life have just been a bit shyte and all but this has gotten my creative juices flowing so fingers crossed!**

**I hope you enjoyed this and please leave a review! Apologies for any mistakes, this was very briefly proof read…. as in not at all.**

**xxx**


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